Month: March 2016

As most of you folks know I grew up in London, but today live in the States. Here’s an article by Lauren Mayhew of YAAR about some of the differences between British and American English. Though I have to say I’ve never heard of faffing or stonking!

Ok, this may seem obvious to most of you, but here is a quick pointer to differences in English and American English words. I have read many books written by non-British authors that contain English characters and not all of the terminology has been correct. The same can be said for British authors writing American characters too.

To me as a reader, this is only relevant to books written in first person or for dialogue. In descriptive text, feel free to use ‘Organization’ instead of ‘Organisation’. This is only relevant to when a British/ American character is speaking/ thinking.

I know that if I was writing an American, Australian or British character, I’d need to do some research into certain words that may be different. Here’s a little list of words or phrases that are used differently. (I’ve put the American English first.)

A Musician’s Tale is an anthology that consists of interviews with musicians. Since Rock & Roll Saved My Soul published a book that talks about how music affects those who listen, the founder decided to do one about how it affects the ones who create music. All proceeds from the anthology will be donated to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Summary:

An artist’s life is never easy. From the very beginning, they’re faced with struggles of criticism and self-doubt, making the lifestyle difficult.But from the ashes, they will rise. Despite all the negative they face, they use it to their advantage, using it to fuel their artistic side. We use music to escape. So do those who write or play music, creating the sounds we love the most.

A Musician’s Tale – Telling their stories

Rock & Roll Saved My Soul publishes anthologies in which all proceeds goes to different charities. They are looking for submissions for several different anthologies right now, so feel free to head over to the Facebook page and go to the Submissions Call album if you’re interested in helping them out by writing a story. They’ve published ones about domestic violence, bullying, rescuing animals, helping others out, and music saving lives so far. They’ll also publish books or short stories as long as all proceeds goes to charity.

So, I’ve read the first two books in your series, P.A.W.S. as well as a few of the short stories. They’re all great. Can you tell us about them?

The first two books of the series, P.A.W.S. and Argentum are out and I’m currently working on books 3 and 4. (I’m not sure how many books there will be in the end). It’s a YA fantasy that focuses on an international organization of shapeshifters, The Partnership of Animagi, Werewolves and Shapeshifters (otherwise known as P.A.W.S.) I’m also releasing a series of short stories that tie in with the series, Tales from P.A.W.S. both as individual ebooks and as a combined paperback.

When I’m not writing fiction I write puzzles for magazines and my website Paws 4 Puzzles and in early 2015 I published…

Coming June 5th from Writers Colony Publishing, Stardust Always! A tribute anthology to Alan Rickman and David Bowie. All proceeds go to benefit studies to fight cancer. My story, ‘An Unpardonable Adventure’ will be in it.

These two men have impacted the world is ways that we can hardly understand. They have become one with our subconscious? Who is the voice of God? We all saw Dogma: Alan Rickman, of course! Whose the professor we love to hate? Snape of course! He had a voice that grabbed you by the spine and made you sit up straight and listen to him. Whatever it was he had to say, that voice… you had to listen.

Another great man who influenced the world and how we see not just everything around us but also how we see the universe and the cosmos said something that resonated with David Bowie and his persona…

At eight years old I turned into a ladybird. The story prompt in the Puffin Post said to choose a creature and write a story from its point of view. I spent days wandering around my house and garden in Barking, a working-class borough of London, peering into my dad’s magnifying shaving mirror and imagining my life as a tiny red, spotted crawling thing. Then I wrote that story and sent it off to the magazine and I waited.

Two months later I tore open the envelope that held my Puffin Post and scanned through the pages and there was my name in print – Deborah Manber. I’d got a mention for my ladybird story. And so it began: my love of words, of dreams, of stories (and as that first story involved me turning into an insect, I guess my love of…